


old souls

by jessamoo



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 16:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2474642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessamoo/pseuds/jessamoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bash and Kenna take a trip to Scotland to visit Kenna's parents (for the prompt "modern au fluff")</p>
            </blockquote>





	old souls

The sunlight is captured in the flowing tendril soft her hair as the bracing Scottish wind blows it across her face in a wild tangle.

In front of her, the Scottish landscape creates a mystical scene. Rolling hill tops that stretch for miles, stretching across the sky like a brush stroke on an untouched canvas.  
The world was not untouched however. They had trekked all the way up here from the little village they had stopped off on the way to visit Kenna’s parents. The crumbling old castle on top of the hill wasn't exactly what Kenna wanted to spend her morning exploring – but Bash had insisted. She had stared back longingly at the shops and pubs of the village as Bash had grabbed her hand and playfully tugged her up most of the way.

But eventually she had stopped complaining. This had been a feat in itself seen as she hadn't stopped complaining about everything on this trip – the rubbish Wi-Fi signal, the lumpy mattress in the bed and breakfast they were staying in, how quickly the hot water seemed to run out (Bash had a suspicion this was because of the unbelievably long showers Kenna liked to take, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he had kissed her shoulders and nonchalantly stated that they would just have to shower together then.)

But as Kenna began to move into the shadow of the once great Scottish castle, now a ruin jutting out the hill like broken teeth, she had grown quiet and respectful. She had gripped his hand tighter in excitement and awe as a smile broke over her face. He laughed as she sprinted forward ahead of him. 

He had known she would like it once she got here. She was always talking about home comforts and staying indoors, but he knew she was deeper than that. She had an old soul, just like him.

 

“Look!” she yells back at him happily, balancing precariously on what remains of a moderately sized wall. She’s tip toeing with her arms spread wide, and Bash is holding his hands out as if he can force her to balance that way. “Oh my god, it’s really beautiful up here Bash!”

“Kenna, I’m not going to make a good impression on your parents if I turn up at your house with you in a neck brace or something.” he calls, following her progress as she tip toes down the wall.

She glances down at him with a lively smile. “Don’t be a grump.” She shrugs matter-of-factly. “You’re the one that insisted we come up here to look this pile of bricks.” She narrows her eyes at him then. “And you've already met my parents. They like you.”

“Yeah but I haven’t spent any real time with them have I? And I haven’t gone to their house before. And…” he trails of, and suddenly flops his hands down. He’s looking away from her, pretending to be distracted by the landscape around them.

 

Kenna quirks an eye brow at him sceptically which he pretends not to see. Half the time she never had to voice her questions or thoughts, they knew each other so well now. He squints up against the sunlight haloing around her, silhouetting her lithe body through her loose white cotton shirt and she puts her hands on her hips in a huff. She taps her foot when he doesn’t answer.

Then, without warning, she lets out a loud yell.

Bash’s gaze flies up to see her arms flailing wildly as she teeters to the edge of the wall. He jumps forward to catch her in a panic – but his hands only come into contact with the light grey stones.

He looks up and sees her still perched on the wall comfortably with a wry smile. 

“Why would you do that?” he sighs angrily, resting his head on the wall in front of him, knocking it slightly against the stone.

“Lighten up. God knows were going to be miserable enough when we get to my house.” She sits on the wall, swinging her legs down. “How’s university Kenna? You should be more like Mary, Kenna. Has Bash got a proper job yet?” she intones in a choked impression of her father’s dulcet voice. The soft denim of her jeans brushes his face as she wiggles them near him.

He nods and looks up at her again acceptingly. Then he quickly grabs her ankle and kisses it and she squeals, trying to scramble away from him with a laugh.

 

Later, once Kenna has stopped running around pretending to be a princess and forcing Bash to lift her onto bits of walls and broken battlements which he was sure she wasn’t allowed to actually be on, they sit out on the acres of field surrounding the castle.

Kenna had brought a blanket and food for them – “if we are spending our last morning before we get home in some old castle, I’m going to need at least three packets of crisps.” And they spread out on it, looking up at the clouds in a peaceful contentment.

“It won’t be too bad when we get to your parents’ house. Hopefully. At least you can tell them I have an actual job now.” Bash reassures her, reaching over to brush a stray tendril of hair from her face. “I’m sure they would have preferred for you to date the boy that inherited the company, but head of security isn’t too bad either.”

“It’s wonderful.” She grins. “You’re going to be at Francis’s side the whole time. I’m so proud of you.” she shakes her head a little, as if she can’t believe the enormity of his position, as if the pride she feels for him is so deep for it to be inexplicable. And knowing Kenna, knowing her sweetness, her kindness, it probably was. “They will be too.”

“I hope so.” He says seriously, rolling onto his side with his head in his hand to look down at her.

 

Lying down, looking at her, her hair spread around her like a crown, it wasn’t something he got used to. He had done it a thousand times, but she was like a painting with hundreds of tiny minuscule details. It was like every time he looked at her he saw something different, and yet undeniably familiar. He couldn’t explain how he felt at once like she was something great and unfathomable, and yet like he knew her more than he knew himself. 

When they had first been set up by his overbearing father – trying to find him a girlfriend, as he constantly compared the golden couple of Mary and Francis to Bash and his bachelor existence (Bash had explained often that this wasn’t the seventeenth century. Just because he didn’t have a girlfriend at that particular time didn’t mean he was going to be alone forever – but his father hands listened, because of course he never did) – he had been awkward and pitying toward Kenna.

They had been almost friends before. They saw each other around the university campus, and their friends all knew each other. But reputations always proceed, and they had already formed their judgements about one another. How wrong they had been. Neither of them had known how much they would need one another.

The thought of him not loving Kenna seemed impossible to him now, like a memory that belonged to someone else.

 

So Bash sits up hesitantly with this thought in his head, trying to smooth his t shirt down. Kenna sits up then too – a slightly wary look coming over her face.

“You alright?” she asks, concerned.

He gives her a smile and a nervous laugh. She raises her eyebrows – she can’t remember the last time she had seen her boyfriend outwardly nervous.

He nods looking away from her – and when he looks up again, his bright green eyes are so serious that she can’t look away from them. She sees the forest inside of them, she sees their mystical ancient surroundings reflected there, and it suddenly seems like anything could happen here on this hill.

“There is a reason I made you come up here.” He starts then trails off. 

Kenna grabs his hand encouragingly. Looking down at their entwined fingers, he smiles. When he carries on the nerves seemed to have dissipated at their contact.

“And a reason I want your parents to know I have a good job.”

“Bash, your freaking me out a little bit babe.”

Instead of answering, Kenna watches in anticipation as he reaches into his pocket, letting go of her hands.

 

Her breath hitches in her throat as she realises what he has placed in front of her.

A small velvet box that could only be one thing.

She looks up at him unsure, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.

She doesn’t say anything as her long fingers reach out to take the box and ceremoniously flip it open. When she sees the ring inside, she laughs and nods with tears staining her face. She just keeps nodding like she can’t speak.

“Your grandmothers ring.” She whispers.

He nods with a smile, but he doesn’t reach for her yet. “You’re the only person I want to have it.” He reassures quietly. His tone isn’t expectant, he just wants her to know. That was something she loved about him – he never pushed her. He always knew when to step back. But she doesn’t want that now, she just can’t explain to him how happy she is right then.

Kenna reaches out her hands again to take both of his. 

“I’m sorry.” She explains. “I am happy. These are happy tears – it’s just…” she shakes her head, searching for words.

Bash looks down sadly. “You think we’re too young? I know that it seems like it now but –“

“No!” she cries, moving her fingers to lift his chin gently so their eyes meet again. “That’s not it. I guess I just…I never thought I would have this. All the people at university think I'm some kind of whore. I guess I just got used to people seeing me that way. And I know your father forced us together on that date…because the CEO of Valois industries couldn’t be seen with a teenage mistress…and it felt medieval. Like I was being pushed around by everyone around me, and I thought you would see me the same as all those other people.”

He reaches up to place a hand softly to her cheek. “Never.”

She nods. “I know that now. You’re the only person who sees me…as me, I guess. And I love you for it…I was just shocked that someone who saw the real me would want to be tied to that forever.” She laughs self-deprecatingly, glancing away shyly.

“That’s what I want. If you’ll let me.”

She looks up in a flash then, realising she hadn't technically said yes yet. A huge smile spreads across her face and she hits him in the shoulder. “Of course I’ll let you, why else would I say all that?” she laughs loudly. 

“Now.” She squares her shoulders in a regal manner and he imitates her. She sticks her hand out in the air, wiggling her fingers, and lifting her chin away from him doing her best impression of a queen waiting for her hand to be kissed. She flips her hair and says in an overly serious tone. “In the immortal words of Beyoncé, put a ring on it, Sebastian de Poitiers.” 

And he does. He grins at her and kisses her fingers until she pulls her hand away to watch the ring glint in the sunlight.

Then Bash grabs her round the waist and rolls, pulling her on top of him as she shrieks in surprise. 

They roll down the hill with her clinging to him, laughing and squealing loudly. His arms are wrapped around her tightly, safely. 

As they come to a slow, breathless stop a little further down, grass stained and hair tangled, she studies his face as she is now perched above him.

Kenna places a slow gentle kiss on his lips which he returns readily. She is indulging in the feeling of his hands trailing over her back. She is thinking about how they always would be, and how happy that made her.

“I do love you you know.” She tells him seriously.

He tightens his grips on her and she sees in his eyes that he knows. “I love you too. And I can’t wait to see the look on your parent’s faces when we tell them.”

She laughs, and she gets used to the weight of the ring on her finger in one single, happy instant.


End file.
